Peter Buck Reverb interview

[(electrofaro)]

Not the best quality interview but some nice info on his gear:

https://reverb.com/news/reverb-interview-peter-buck-of-rem

[(Folkie)]

Thanks, Werner. I only wish the interviewer would have asked him more questions about his gear on the early records. Still a fascinating read!

[(electrofaro)]

It makes me wonder how they did this interview... it sounds rather more like a quick 5 min bar chat

[(VA Pilot)]

Great interview!!

[(cjd_gov)]

Very cool; thanks for sharing, electrofaro.

I could read or listen to Peter talk shop for hours on end.

[(indianation65)]

One article, my two fave guitarist ever mentioned...Peter and Johnny, and it took a lot to replace Ace and Mick Ronson as my two faves.

Good interview, too short, I'd ask different questions, we all would...love P. Buck, but don't like mandolins, G-Dead or cussing, at all.

...wisdom

[(scott_s)]

Thanks, Werner. I only wish the interviewer would have asked him more questions about his gear on the early records. Still a fascinating read!

I'm a couple years late in reading this interview -- thanks to Werner for posting it here, and to David for linking it from his page! I found a minor revelation in this little bit:

Yeah. I was playing a Telecaster in 1980; it got stolen out of my house. And there was a little music store in town called Chick Piano; they had a blond Rickenbacker 360 with flat-wound strings. That was my main guitar until 1981, when it got stolen.

Had Peter mentioned before that his first Rickenbacker came to him with flatwounds?

Mitch Easter posted in a few other threads that Peter Buck used heavy flatwounds when they recorded with him, and I've always been curious how Peter found his way to that setup. If you look closely at the picture of them playing at the UGA in late 1980, Peter's blackguard Telecaster has a plain 3rd string, which seems uncharacteristic of him to us, now:



But in listening to their early gigs (like this one a month or two prior to that picture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZKzkPP8LPg), he was plenty willing to do simple 1960's garage-band guitar solos with oblique bends on the 3rd. I wonder if that first Rickenbacker was more formational on his style than we realize, the heavy strings preventing wanky solos and allowing him to focus on his pick/strum rhythm playing...

[(scott_s)]

Another thing that I hadn't gleaned before was that he's a big Grateful Dead fan. (From the old story about pissing off his hippie roommates with Sex Pistols records, I had figured he wasn't.)

So I wonder if Peter Buck's brass bridges and nuts come from Jerry Garcia's influence.

[(Clifton)]

Another thing that I hadn't gleaned before was that he's a big Grateful Dead fan. (From the old story about pissing off his hippie roommates with Sex Pistols records, I had figured he wasn't.)

So I wonder if Peter Buck's brass bridges and nuts come from Jerry Garcia's influence.

I seem to remember brass replacement parts were very popular during the late 70s and early 80s. Even Fender came out with a line of brass parts.

[(indianation65)]

To get "200 people to come see you play on a Friday night," these days?
Ha, that would be awesome!

PBuck, one of my top-two favorite guitar players ever, side-by-side with JMarr.

I never believed anyone would ever surpass Ace Frehley and Mick Ronson to me, but Peter and Johnny did it!

...wisdom